Yeah, he looked like shit against Turner and Fiziev got injured in the fight lol.
I disagree with volk on 1 weeks notice up a weight class and off a recent surgery being a more compelling match up. Yes the match up on paper is more compelling, of course, but the circumstances at the time made the match up less than Ideal. Everyone wanted that rematch but like the first fight, it needs to be at the right time.
Saying that Illa only beat Islam's "leftovers" because "they came back too soon" implies you believe the only reason Illa beat them was because they returned too soon from the beating Islam gave them. I didn't know Islam fought Holloway too.
Moicano was on a much better run (impressive 4 fight win streak) this past January than Gamrot was back in 2023. And the Moicano win didn’t really do much for islam, I don’t think beating Gamrot would’ve done anything for him either.
Nobody at LW does much for Islam the volk rematch was just a sad choice. He literally hand picked an out of camp fw And a rematch NOW complains about rematch and fighting fw. If he had just fought gamrot it was a fresh matchup and a career lw training for him and gamrot is one of two men to have out wrestled Arman so he's definitely a credible challenge.
This is nonsense. The UFC picked Volk because they needed a big name to save the card.
I disagree, I believe islams manager angled for this fight. The UFC already contracted an official replacement
This is how Volkanovski was chosen for the rematch according to the Islam haters
But how would Islam deserve a shot at WW? Outside of a couple of catchweight bouts he's always competed at Lightweight.
i shouldve also mentioned that i believe Islam should fight a top 10 contender before his title shot at WW. but he has also defended his belt more times than Topuria has. so it wouldnt bother me as much. more achievements means you get more leeway to do stuff
Giving Islam a ww title shot now of all times is absurd
Yes, giving the guy with 4 title defenses and is about to tie the ufc win streak is absurd. But giving a guy who only defended once makes total sense. Lol. You’re beyond parody at this point.
You just took the words out of my mouth. How is Ilia more legitimate than Islam to fight for a title shot in the above category ?
It's not to do with islam deserving it actually, it has to do with the current state of WW that makes it unfavorable they already have sean brady and Shavkat very deserving of title fights, it will just keep those fighters fighting in circles when they should not have to.
4 title defenses is great, that doesn't mean he deserves a title shot in the above weight class. Islam has a legitimate title contender as does WW whether it's Belal or JDM after their fight. Defending the title in your division doesn't mean you're allowed to jump the line in the next available division.
You can make the same argument, even more so, regarding ilia. He has only 1 title defense and had at least 3 viable contenders at FW. So why are the same people arguing that Ilia deserves an immediate TS at 155 saying islam doesn’t deserve a TS at 170? Pure hypocrisy.
